The Patriots Bounced Back to Victory; You Can Too!

What has God got to do with Super Bowl? For the unbeliever, the answer is obviously nothing. But for believers in God, especially those at the Galilee Baptist Church in Kalamazoo where I worshiped last Sunday morning before “going to jail”, the answer was “everything!” The New England Patriots were favored to win the 2017 Super bowl even before the game. According to Vegas betting lines and many sports projections, the New England Patriots were expected to win and to win big with a high scoring victory. Perhaps the same was said about your future when as a baby, you made a celebrated grand entry into a world of limitless opportunities for success and happiness. Maybe, it was your marriage and family that was hoped to be very promising on the day you said “I do”. Perhaps, it was your health, your business, your job or your academic life that had great hopes for a sustainable and happy future. But now the game is on and you begin to wonder what is going on. You have watched the first quarter pass by and you managed to keep going. You watched the second pass by and the third quarter has let you down. Obviously to you, if not to all yet, you are now on the ground. You feel beaten, rejected, broken and lonesome. You begin to wonder what has happened. Is there any hope for the future? Is the game over? As I listened to Dr Michael Scott, Pastor at the Galilee Baptist Church make reference to the 2017 Super Bowl in his sermon this Sunday, I heard him say repeatedly that it is not over for you.; “You will bounce back!” Yes, you will bounce back-Think of what happened at the Super Bowl: The New England Patriots were beaten hands down in the first and second quarters. By the third quarter, it was believed by many that all hopes for them had been lost. “The Falcons had won” everyone believed as every minute was ticked off looking forward to the end of the game. According to ESPN win probability model, the chances of victory for the Patriots bottomed out at 0.02%. For Pro-Professional.com, the chance of victory for the Patriots was even lower than 0.02%. It was that bad! Imagine that your chances of success in your health treatment, family life, business or academic success depends on the New England Patriots winning the 2017 Super Bowl. Imagine that the chance of your keeping your job or getting a job depends on the Falcons being defeated. 0.2% chance does not look promising by any standard. But something happened: there were movements from both sides of the game. The Patriots stood up and with an unprecedented hope in possibilities, they pulled one of the largest comebacks in NFL history. Rising from the crippling ashes of a potential 28 – 3 defeat, the Patriots bounced back to defeat the Falcons with an overtime win of 34 – 28. I do not know what you are facing right now but God does. I do not know where you are in the game of life but God does. Though the situation may seem helpless and even desperate, there is good news for you: It is not over. There is hope! With God, all things are possible. With God, there is always a second chance, a third chance and a hope for a comeback. That was the essence of the message of Pastor Scott that Sunday morning. From a hopeless moment, the New England Patriots bounced back to victory. You too will bounce back!